First look at William McGregor's gothic drama Gwen

The film was selected as part of this year’s Great 8 showcase in Cannes.

Endor Productions and Great Point Media have released a first image from William McGregor’s highly anticipated debut feature Gwen. The picture had been previously working under a holding title of The Dark Outside.

The film was selected as part of the Great 8 showcase, an event brought to Cannes by the BFI, BBC Films, Film4 and British Council. In its second year, the initiative introduces feature films from eight of the most exciting new directors working in the UK today. This year's showcase also included Craig Roberts' Ffilm Cymru Wales-supported film Eternal Beauty, which stars Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and David Thewlis, and will shoot in Wales this summer.

Gwen is centered on a close-knit family, led by BAFTA nominated actress Maxine Peake (Funny Cow, Peterloo, The Falling). The young actresses playing her children are Eleanor Worthington-Cox, the youngest recipient of the best actress Laurence Olivier award for her role of the theatre production of Matilda, and newcomer Jodie Innes. The supporting cast includes Richard Harrington (Hinterland, Poldark), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (The Commuter, Ghost Stories) and Mark Lewis Jones (Yr Ymadawiad, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Game Of Thrones).

In the stark beauty of 19th Century Snowdonia a young girl tries desperately to hold her home together. Struggling with her mother’s mysterious illness, her father’s absence and a ruthless mining company encroaching on their land. A growing darkness begins to take grip of her home, and the suspicious local community turns on Gwen and her family.

Gwen has been developed by the BFI and Endor Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, with Endor’s Hilary Bevan Jones and Tom Nash as lead producers. The BFI’s Lizzie Francke, Paul Grindey and Charles Moore of Viewfinder Films, Fergus Haycock of Great Point Media and Adam Partridge of Ffilm Cymru Wales act as Executive Producers. The production is co-financed by the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery, and Ffilm Cymru Wales.

Nada Cirjanic, Head of Sales for Great Point introduced the film to buyers at this year’s Marché Du Film in Cannes.